At one point in trading yesterday, Google shares were down by 13%, but when the market closed they had recovered to $362.62 -- 7% below the previous day's close. In after-hours trading, the share price was up by $1.37 to $363.99.
The dive of around $50 came after George Reyes, chief financial officer at Google, told a Merrill Lynch conference: "Growth is slowing and now largely organic; the search monetisation gains have now largely been realised."
However, he tempered his remarks, saying that he did not think that the slowdown in growth would be precipitous.
"I'm not turning bearish at all. I think we've got a lot of growth ahead of us. It's a question of what rate," he said.
Investors' lust for Google stock has, to date, proven largely immune to the warnings of Cassandras who say that the company is overvalued or that it can not continue to deliver the same level of profits.
After peaking at around $411 in January, the share price was hit when Google unveiled its fourth-quarter results at the beginning of February, failing to meet Wall Street forecasts -- although still posting an impressive 86% rise in earnings.
In the middle of February, the share price fell by 5% after Barron's warned that the company faced fierce competition, although the share price soon rebounded.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
